Large audit firms, in particular, increasingly emphasize industry specialization in their audit practices (Hogan and Jeter 1999). If industry specialists provide higher quality audits, specialists may be more likely to issue going-concern reports to companies experiencing financial distress. In addition, if independent audit committees are more concerned about audit quality, they may also be more likely to select an industry specialist auditor
We add to the model presented in table 4 audit firm industry specialization measured as a continuous variable: the percentage of industry sales audited by that accounting firm relative to the total industry sales in that same industry. Audit firm industry specialization is not significant (p > 0.10), but we continue to find that the greater the percentage of affiliated directors on the audit committee, the lower the probability of receiving a going-concern report (p < 0.01)